Merry Merry (with a side of quite contrary church pants)

Photo credit: Julie Setmeyer

Another Christmas has come and gone, and as I attempt to dig ourselves out of boxes, Nerf darts, and pine needles that fall if you just look at the tree wrong, I thought I’d give you a little Christmas recap.

I’m sure many of you are wondering how many of Elena’s 43 items from her Christmas list actually made it under the tree.  Eli gifted her Bath and Body Works lotion and a Taco Bell gift card.  Uncle Donnie and Aunt Kim were rewarded for being loyal blog readers with a squeal and a big grin for their gift:

Abuela stuck to the list as well, gifting earrings, a beanie and an Aeropostale gift card (but drawing the line at offering to drive Elena to the mall).

And as for us?  We knocked off two items on the list with one sweet gift: a box set of signed John Green books (which seems to have jumped in price since I purchased it).  She also found the curlers, a pair of Converse, and a few goodies from Lush under the tree and in her stocking.  In further proof that the terrorists Apple is winning, Santa brought her a new iPod.  We were all set to buy her a camera, but realized that she would continue to take 97% of her selfies photos with her iPod.  So we decided to upgrade her iPod in order for her to have a decent camera.  Needless to say, she was very pleased with that decision.  Apologies to our neighbors for the glass-shattering shriek at 7:04 a.m. on Christmas morning.

Mike and I decided not to exchange gifts this Christmas, instead opting to get ourselves bikes in the spring so we can ride through the streets of Fishers like the VonTrapp family.  However I was gifted a lovely case of horrible body image by ripping the seat of my pants as I got into the car to go to Christmas Eve services.

Eli was disappointed to wake up Christmas morning and find that his two biggest Christmas wishes did not come true.  No XBox One, and he was not magically transformed into a super hero overnight.  He tried shape-shifting and jumping over the couch in a single bound, but alas he was still Eli-shaped and even jumping over the couch cushion was a stretch.  His Nerf gun didn’t work because of the 846 things I did to prepare for Christmas, double-checking our supply of C batteries was not one of them.  And the one thing I did buy for him from his impossibly tiny and unachievable Christmas list (Lego-shaped block candy) got forgotten in the closet I stuffed it in back in November.

He was already bummed out because at our family Christmas the weekend before, the girls in the family were gifted body pillows.  Oh, how he pined for a body pillow!  And oh, how Elena tormented him with her body pillow!  She carried it with her everywhere, sighing deeply as she lay her head on it, stroking it and admiring out loud how soft and wonderful it was.  At one point he asked her to put it away, saying it made him so sad every time he looked at it.

Thankfully Abuela saved the day, delivering Eli his own body pillow on Christmas day.  He might not have the latest video game console, he might be more Peter Parker than Spiderman, but damn if that boy isn’t comfy in bed at night.

I’ll be taking a little break from blogging over winter break, enjoying this quirky family of mine, getting lost in Pinterest, and doing whatever voodoo I need to do to see my Colts through the playoffs.  In the meantime, I hope each and every one of you knows how much I treasure the fact that you care enough to visit this blog of mine.  It’s truly one of the best gifts this girl could ever receive.  Other than some new church pants, of course.